Dear CGS Family,

 

As you are aware from our website and from previous church-wide email communications, CGS has temporarily suspended all of its regularly scheduled weekend services, effective from this Sunday, March 15.  We humbly acknowledge the difficulty of making this decision, and recognize that it will disappoint many of you.  We ask that you extend to us your prayers and your Grace as we move forward into the maze of necessary assessments and judgments that yet await us...

 

Our Rationale for the Decision: 

 

The pastoral staff and elder leadership at CGS are deeply grieved by the reality of this pandemic, and the hardship and heartache that are following in its wake.  We rightly recognize that God has not given us a spirit of fear, and our collective hearts' desire is that CGS and its members will exhibit a courageous Christian witness in this societal moment, including continuing to worship together within new contexts.

 

But we suspended this weekend's services because we also recognize that God has called us to love our neighbors and to contribute to the welfare of our community (Mark 12:31, Jeremiah 29:7).  We concur with other voices in our local Christian community:  the exercise of caution as COVID-19 evolves is not merely wise, but is a Christ-honoring way of expressing love toward others - particularly those who are most vulnerable.  The consequences of taking epidemiologic risks (such as CGS electing to meet together in large numbers) are not confined to those taking them:  they place at additional risk the entire Durham community and beyond... 

 

Our Immediate Response to the Decision:

 

Your elders are attempting to balance two tensions:  that of   i) how to be faithful in our gathering together (Hebrews 10:24),    while    ii) remaining "subject to the governing authorities" (Romans 13:1) .  Here are some of the initial ways we are approaching our task:

 

1)   Included in today's CGS Weekly newsletter is a PDF of this Sunday's entire Worship Service as it would have been conducted - all hymns, responsive readings, Scriptural citations, sermon texts, etc.  We encourage you to use the PDF bulletin as a template for home worship within your families, community groups, etc.

 

2)   We have procured the videography technology to enable us to provide a live-stream of small (< 100) worship services from our sanctuary each Sunday for the duration of the COVID-19 restrictions (in accord with Governor Cooper's restrictions on the size of gatherings).  We are targeting Sunday March 22 as our first live-stream worship service.  

 

3)   As a corollary to these worship services, we are considering establishing a "Neighborhood-based" attendance rotation for our (reduced size) worship services.  That weekly gathering of less than 100 persons becomes the representative gathering of the Church as a whole. Those of us who are "awaiting our turn" in the "sanctuary rotation" are able to nevertheless join our brothers and sisters remotely, via the live-stream...

 

 Our Next Steps:

 

The CGS leadership continues to actively monitor "best practice" recommendations for management of COVID-19, paying particularly close attention to the guidance provided by the CDC and the North Carolina DHHS. However, decision analyses by these authorities remain extremely fluid, so you should expect ongoing changes to CGS's calendar.  Be alert and flexible: we will use church-wide email and our website  ( https://cgsonline.org )  to provide you with notice of any changes to our schedule.

 

For the present, we will dedicate a separate tile at the bottom of the home page of our CGS website ( https://cgsonline.org ) by which to provide additional information and updates to you regarding plans, responses, and opportunities that emerge during this COVID-19 season. 

 

Please continue to pray earnestly for discernment and courage to be exercised within our CGS body.  By God's Providence all of those who are in Christ have been provided a specific opportunity to deliver a thoughtful, well-reasoned, prudent, and compassionate Christian response to those around us in this societal moment. Let's not allow this occasion for potentially powerful witness to pass us by....